Agriculture specialists say farmers must insure farmlands, to diminish damages of bad weather in Moldova

Chisinau, 1 June /MOLDPRES/ - The rains and hail of the last period have caused more damages to Moldova’s farming sector; yet, these damages might be diminished through insurances, subsidized by the state, sources of the Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment Ministry (MADRM) have told MOLDPRES.    

„The specialized departments from several districts of Moldova informed about the areas of farmlands hit by the last May natural calamities. Crops were affected by hail and washing of grounds caused by the heavy rains. The data is to be generalized and presented to the government by the commission for emergency situations,” a chief consultant at the MADRM directorate for production policies, processing and regulation of vegetal products’ quality, Marin Grama, said.    

„Agriculture is the most vulnerable sector of the national economy, being subjected to certain natural risks, such as frequent droughts, heavy rainfall, damages caused by hail, early spring frost, lack of snow layer in winter, etc. Each farmer must be aware of these factors. Nevertheless, the risks can be minimized through insuring crops,” Marin Grama noted.     

The MADRM specialist stressed that the farmers were stimulated through subsidization on behalf of the state to insure their crops; yet, a small number of farmers do this.   

According to Grama, “another aspect of the issue represents the non-observance of the technology of cultivation of each crop separately, which has its individual specific feature: optimum periods of sowing, use of advanced varieties, tested in local conditions, correct use and in due time of fertilizers and phyto-sanitary products, non-allowing the placement of annual crops on slopes, where the risks of washings is considerably enhanced, avoiding poorly drained soils. It is also important to diversity the crops through different successions, rotations and associations of crops, which imply annual and perennial plants,” Marin Gram also said.

Grama added that the plantations of fruit trees can be protected from hail by the use of systems of covering with anti-hail nets. “They require big investments, which are also subsidized by the state,” Marin Grama reiterated.